


take a chance on me

by destiny919



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Found Family, Gen, Good Sibling Jason Todd, Jason Todd doesn't die, Jason Todd is Robin, Pre-DITF, Tim Drake's A+ Survival Instincts, and they haven't even adopted timmy yet, or i should say WON'T
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29035932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destiny919/pseuds/destiny919
Summary: "Hey, Stalker," Jason says without lowering his binoculars.Tim creeps out from behind the air conditioning unit and lets out a put-upon sigh that doesn't really fit a ten-year-old.
Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 24
Kudos: 381





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [crying] im lov them
> 
> title is,,,,from the ABBA song, for some reason
> 
> originally a oneshot but i wrote more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hey, Stalker," Jason says without lowering his binoculars.
> 
> Tim creeps out from behind the air conditioning unit and lets out a put-upon sigh that doesn't really fit a ten-year-old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally published standalone, edited 2/18/21

Robin is alone on the rooftop, doing recon for a Penguin case while Batman fights Poison Ivy across town. Cobblepot is putting together something big, and they know tonight he’s meeting with a very important unknown and having eyes on whatever goes down is critical, which is the only reason Jason didn’t protest being left to do such boring work while his dad confronted a dangerous Rogue like Ivy.

He  _ was _ alone on the rooftop, at least, but now Robin is glad to have received this assignment from Batman for an entirely different reason.

"Hey, Stalker," Jason says without lowering his binoculars.

Tim creeps out from behind the air conditioning unit and lets out a put-upon sigh that doesn't really fit a ten-year-old. "You know my real name, you could use it."

"No real names in the field," Jason replies automatically. "This still applies to pint-sized photographers with no self-preservation instincts."

The kid scoffs. "Says the guy who called Killer Croc a little bitch to his face last week."

"First of all, I have body armor and training, second of all, I stand by it, and third-"  _ Now _ Jason lowers his binoculars, blank domino lenses zeroing in on Tim. "Hold up," he says. "How the hell do you know what I said to Croc? There was no news c-..." Tim has very subtly started edging away. "Oh my god. Kid. No. You said no more following us when we fight Rogues!"

"I didn't follow you," Tim says. "I got down into the sewer on my own."

"That's  _ worse,"  _ Jason groans. "Who the hell knows what kind of crap might been waiting on the route  _ you _ took!"

"I can take care of myself," Tim says quietly. "I always have."

"That is  _ not _ the p-..." Jason stops. "What do you mean, always have?" The kid is constantly dropping little tidbits like that, often without seeming to notice."

Tim shrugs. "I'm very independent."

"No shit, kid, you're on a rooftop at 2am stalking vigilantes." Jason scrubs a hand over his face. "How did we not notice you in Croc's lair?"

"You were pretty distracted, you know, by calling him a little bitch and everything," the kid points out.

"Yeah, too distracted to protect the civilian kid without a survival instinct!"

"I still think that's kind of hypocritical. The first Robin started when he was younger than I am."

Jason takes a moment to once again not freak out about how much this kid knows about the Bats and god only knows what else. "Yeah, well, I can fucking promise you that Goldie wasn't going up against  _ Killer Croc  _ while he still wore the scaly booty shorts."

"No, just Two-Face," Tim says.

He swallows convulsively, wondering how much Tim knows about  _ his  _ history as Robin _. _ It occurs to Jason that Bruce is going to kill him when he finds out Tim, barely ten, has been stalking them around the city for months, if not longer, and Jason has known for ages now and didn't tell him.

Now is not the time to worry about Bruce’s reaction, especially the niggling worry he can’t shake that B will take one look at this black-haired, blue-eyed little supergenius with zero sense of danger and immediately cast Jason aside. That can’t matter right now; Jason has to worry about Tim himself. He’ll gladly worry about competition from this mini World's Greatest Detective if it means the kid doesn’t get wasted by a Rogue first.

"Yeah, kid," Jason says. "The Golden Boy got  _ got _ by Two-Face. And he'd tell you himself it was not a good experience."

"Worth it," the kid mumbles. He's clicking through his digital camera. From his position slightly above and over his shoulder, Jason can see several shots of him and Batman tag-teaming Croc, that he can already tell would be breathtaking blown up on a screen like the Batcomputer's.

And that's where this is heading, isn't it. That's where this kid has always been heading.

If he doesn't get killed first, chasing his heroes armed with nothing but sneakers and a camera worth thousands - more, depending on the contents of the memory card.

"Okay, Stalker," Jason says finally. "We need to work out some new ground rules."

Tim hunches over in apprehension, though he seems to be shielding his camera more than his vital organs. "Like what?"

"Rule one," Jason says, "is no going out without wearing your new body armor."

"My new-..." The kid's eyes widen. "Am I gonna help you and Batman?"

"Absolutely fucking not," Jason cuts him off right away. "You have no training, in any fight you'd be more hindrance than help, and I would  _ really _ prefer you avoid them entirely instead of going on a nature safari, but unlike B, I can tell when something's a losing battle. So we're going to do our best to fucking keep you alive for now." That's what Bruce has done, really, with both Jason and Dick, and even Babs. He can't keep any of them away from danger, but he can make sure they're prepared to meet it.

He can make sure they're not alone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason has a feeling it's Bruce that this kid needs.
> 
> But it's Batman who arrives on that rooftop, where Jason is on his third cigarette and Tim is fiddling with his camera and trying to be subtle about wrinkling his nose every time the wind blows smoke towards him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i did it!! i wrote a continuation!!! and its four times as long yall are WELCOME and obv im planning a third

As they previously discussed, Jason waits for Batman on the rooftop after he watches the Penguin deal go down.

And the kid snapped two dozen photos of the damn thing. He supposes if they can get those to the GCPD it might be usable as evidence of something in court if they actually manage to catch any of the bastards. Penguin's bunch are all slippery as the eels that manage to survive in Gotham Harbor. Jason should know, he once used one as a garrote when he and a goon ended up taking a little dip.

Jason wonders whether the baby stalker got any pictures of _that._ He still doesn't know exactly how long Tim has been pulling this shit. The kid won't tell him, which isn’t promising. Jason had only caught him a few months ago, and Tim had begged so hard that Jason agreed to not tell Batman about him - _if_ Tim stayed away from dangerous situations and just stuck to their usual patrol routes. He eagerly agreed to that stipulation, and Jason kindly hadn't bothered pointing out that being a nine year old out alone in the Gotham night, let alone one carrying a camera worth thousands, was about as much of an inherently "dangerous situation" as they came. But he already knew that keeping Tim away entirely was a non-starter. Even if the kid were willing to give up his parents' identities - he is not, so far - it's clear to Jason that if Tim is able to go gallivanting around like this in the first place, narcing on him to his parents will almost certainly accomplish fuck-all. So he kept trying to cut a deal with the kid to keep him alive.

\--

The first arrangement about dangerous situations hadn't lasted long when it became truly clear to Jason for the first time that Tim was a punk ass little liar who did not obey Jason's directives. He spotted the kid near three major drug busts, a robbery, and finally the worst was when Jason was trying to follow a shipment of drugs that turned out to be fear toxin on a direct route to Crane himself. 

There were about five goons with him. Jason managed to defeat them quite handily with a smoke bomb and a few of his dirtier tricks. At least one of those guys wasn't gonna be passing down any DNA.

However, he did immediately regret not taking Scarecrow out first when he turned around to see him drop a canister that was already hissing. 

Jason didn't bother chasing Crane, he was too busy slapping a rebreather on his face and kicking the canister away from him. 

And then, from that direction, he heard a small cough. 

And he just _knew._

"Tim!" he yelled, sprinting over and getting out his spare rebreather. He skidded onto his knees beside Tim where he was hiding behind some strategically arranged crates, white-knuckled grip on his camera and his pupils already dilating slightly.

He didn't hesitate to shove the rebreather in the kid's face before hoisting the entire little shit over his shoulders. 

It...should not have been that easy. Sure, Jason was strong, he was _Robin,_ but he wasn't exactly on Bruce's or even Dick's level at this point. And yet the kid was practically like holding a couple of grapes compared to what he'd expected to be hauling out of there.

And haul he did, not actually wasting time to consider whether or not the kid ever fucking _ate._ He ran out of there, barely flicking a glance down to make sure Tim had gotten the rebreather on. They were out of range of the toxin now, and hopefully Tim had inhaled little enough of the toxin that the extra oxygen in the mask would mitigate the effects without needing an antidote they probably didn’t have. Obviously Jason always carries broad-spectrum toxin antidotes, but Crane might have been feeling creative. He usually was. 

The kid's breathing wasn't fast or anything, even while they ran, so hopefully the oxygen was doing its work. Jason eventually stopped on a rooftop about ten blocks away. He gingerly set the kid down on the gravel and typed a quick message to B. 

_drug shipment fear toxin. crane got away. helping civilian who got caught in it._

Batman would pursue Scarecrow rather than come find Jason, and would agree that he'd made the right choice to help the civilian instead of chasing Scarecrow himself.

That would give Jason some time to ask the kid what the _fuck_ he was doing there. How he could have followed Jason all the way to that warehouse, _and_ managed to get inside on his own without Jason or any goons spotting him and hunker down in what Jason had to admit was the best hiding spot besides up in the rafters - Bat territory.

Jason took off his rebreather and gave the kid a hard look. Noting that his pupils were back to normal size, Jason ripped the mask off his face.

"What the _fuck_ were you doing there, Stalker?" Jason demanded. "How did you follow me to that warehouse? And I _know_ you've been showing up around fights, Batman still might not have noticed, but Robin's had his head on a fuckin' swivel for your mendacious ass!"

"I didn't follow you," Tim said meekly.

"The hell you didn't! You couldn't exactly have used GPS to find it."

"I was already _there,"_ he said, exasperation leaking through even as he tried looking up contritely at Jason, huge blue eyes still sparkling with hero-worship. Well tough luck shrimp toast, Jason had those same ones once upon a time.

"You were _what now?"_ Jason blanched. "Fuck me, kid, are you actually homeless or something even though you have that camera?"

"No!" Tim groaned. "I was not _squatting_ in that warehouse. I was _investigating_ Scarecrow's operation."

"I beg your fucking pardon?" Jason said.

"You heard me," the kid grumbled, folding his arms.

Jason took a deep breath. He dressed up in traffic light colors to go punch criminals with his dad, who dressed up like a bat. A nine year old Xtreme Nancy Drew was not that strange. 

Except the part where he had apparently _survived this long_ in _Gotham._

"So, let me get this straight," Jason said. "You knew Scarecrow would be in that warehouse tonight - which Batman and I didn't. You knew that drug shipment was fear toxin?"

Tim shrugged. "Not that specific one, but I knew Crane was having some of his stash brought in."

"Scarecrow really has a _stash_ of extra fear toxin?" Jason spluttered. "And _you_ know about it?"

"Not where it _is_ or anything like that, but it's obvious he has one."

It was, honestly. Batman had theorized about it more than once. Crane always had toxin ready to go way too soon after escaping Arkham to be making it from scratch every time.

"And... _why,_ exactly," Jason said, breathing deeply, "are you, a nine year old, investigating _Scarecrow?_ A _major Rogue?"_

"I mean, it's not like he's the _Joker_ or anything," Tim muttered. “And I’m ten now.”

"If you ever get anywhere near the Joker I will personally lock you in one of the Batcave's emergency cells." Jason was dead serious. "So again I'll ask: _why the fuck."_

The kid shrugged again, like none of this even mattered, like he didn't know why Jason was bothering to ask. "Wanted to help you and Batman," he mumbled.

Fuck.

Jason groaned. He was doing a lot of that. "Stalker, it would have been a lot more _helpful_ if you'd just _told us_ where Scarecrow would be tonight. I wouldn't have chased what I thought was regular-ass _cocaine_ halfway across the city."

"Would you have believed me?" Tim asked wearily. "And even then, you'd have to tell Batman, which neither of us want you to do." Tim because Batman was the only person who _might_ have a real shot at curtailing Tim's nighttime walkabouts, and Jason because then he'd have to admit to Bruce that he'd concealed Tim's existence for months now, and also some powerful part of him still refused to betray Tim like that, even for the kid's own good. 

He was genuinely doubtful about whether even Bruce would be able to stop Tim from doing what he really wanted to do, short of following through on Jason's threat and locking him in a cell.

"How did you know where Crane would be, anyway?" Jason asked, sitting down on the gravel roof next to Tim.

"It was easy." Another shrug. "I've been watching his operations for a while-"

"Sweet mother Mary of Jesus."

"-and about a week ago I noticed-“ Tim went on to describe what sounded like one of Bruce’s more complex cases, including some leaps of deductive reasoning that Jason wasn’t sure even B could have made without more information.

Jason buried his face in his hands. "Kid, that's incredible, really it is, but _what the fuck."_

"I wish you'd stop saying that."

"I will stop saying it when you stop being...like that."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Exactly." Jason leaned back on his palms, gazing up at the sky - or rather, the muddy gray clouds. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever seen a star from Gotham. "Okay, Stalker," he said finally. "One more deal. I let you keep stalking us, and you can watch regular fights _from a distance,_ but you do _not_ go near Rogues, or follow us when we do. This includes _investigating_ anything yourself. You notice something, just tell _me._ Capisce?"

"Fine," Tim muttered. "I just wanted to help."

"I know, Tim." The kid looked up at the use of his actual name. "But going in alone like that wasn't helping. _I_ had to help _you,_ and that meant Crane got away and I can't help Batman catch him."

"You can just leave anytime," the kid pointed out. "I'll be fine on my own."

Jason sighed. "Where do you live, kid?"

"Nowhere special."

"You _know_ that just means 'nowhere at all', right?" He still felt pretty damn certain Tim was far from homeless, though, and he'd certainly know.

"I live in Bristol," he said at last. 

So not only not homeless, but _rich._ He probably carried that camera around without fear of damage or theft because he could buy one hundred more just like it. The way Bruce could replace Jason's laptop without even blinking.

"I can catch the #7 bus right down there and be home in less than an hour," Tim continued. "I don't need a hero to help me with that."

"Guess not." Jason stood up. "Remember our deal - no Rogues."

"Yeah," Tim said. "I promise I won't follow you guys to Rogues."

"Thank fuck. Now go wait for the bus, it's way past bedtime for pint-sized stalkers."

"Pint-sized?" Tim said with some offense.

 _"Go,_ Stalker. I'll watch from up here to make sure you _get on the bus_ safely." And not fake it only to then follow Jason when he went to find Batman and Scarecrow.

"Fiiiine." Tim stood up and trudged over to the roof access door, propped open by a brick, looking back over his shoulder at Jason twice as he did so. Jason made a shooing gesture when the kid paused entirely at the door. Instead of another mournful, searching look, Tim flashed a brilliant smile at him. "See you soon, Robin!"

The metal door banged shut, and Jason rubbed his forehead, going to sit on the edge and watch for the bus. "I hope not," he muttered.

Even as he said it Jason knew that he would be _extremely worried_ if he actually saw no sign of the stalker, because that would definitely mean Black Mask had him or something, because there was minimal chance of the kid actually cutting back on his favorite insane hobby. Well, Jason wasn't one to talk about having one of those. 

He just had to hope the kid would listen to him about the Rogues.

\--

Well clearly he fucking didn't. Jason really really should have told Batman long before this, but something kept stopping him, even when the benefits of _keeping Tim alive_ finally started outweighing the drawbacks of betraying the kid's trust. And not just the panicky part of him that, months prior, saw the black hair, blue eyes, and obvious adrenaline addiction, and thought _oh shit._

Maybe he's reluctant because it's always been _Batman_ he would be telling. Jason has a feeling it's _Bruce_ that this kid needs.

But it's Batman who arrives on that rooftop, where Jason is on his third cigarette and Tim is fiddling with his camera and trying to be subtle about wrinkling his nose every time the wind blows smoke towards him. 

“...Robin,” he says. _You’re smoking again._ He can practically hear Bruce saying it. Batman says, “Report.”

“Stalker, Batman. Batman, Stalker.” Jason stubs out the cigarette on the concrete, against his better judgment. He’s definitely gonna need it during this conversation, but he’s also not about to piss Bruce off further. He’ll be in deep enough shit over hiding the kid as it is.

He expects Tim to pipe up with his actual name, but the kid actually seems to shrink back towards Jason away from Batman.

Huh. Maybe the little lunatic isn’t as confident in his ability to get around Batman as Jason is. He gives him a nudge, and Tim steps forward with obvious reluctance, even though Jason can clearly see there are stars in his eyes. "Hi, Batman!" he squeaks. 

Bruce's bemusement is obvious to Jason, though it likely looks like his face hasn't changed at all to Tim. He crouches nonetheless, to not loom over the kid. "Hello," he says. "What's your name?"

"I'm, um. I'm Tim." Tim's mouth clamps shut afterward, like even that's saying too much.

"Okay, Tim," Batman says softly. "Would you mind telling me what you're doing up here with Robin? ...And also why he called you 'Stalker'?"

"Uh." Desperately, Tim looks to Jason. "You'll have to ask him that! I've told him it's not my name."

Little shit. Jason takes a deep breath, ready to step onto the gallows. "I called him Stalker because he's been following us around on patrol and cases for about five months." Tim suddenly goes rigid, and it occurs to Jason, finally, that there's a _very good chance_ Tim had already been chasing after them for an indefinite period of time before he first caught him. "Fuck," he says with feeling. "How long has it _really_ been, Timmy?"

Tim's mouth stays shut. His grip on his camera is white-knuckled. Behind the cowl, Bruce's eyes dart down to it. "We can discuss that in a moment. Robin, you've _known_ about him for five months?"

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Here we go. "Yeah," he admits. "It's not - look, B, he _begged_ me not to tell you, alright? And I made him swear that he would just stick to our usual patrol routes and not anything dangerous-"

 _"Gotham at night_ is dangerous-"

"Yes, I fucking know! Which is why I also figured that the kid would probably be safer if he stuck close to _us!"_ Jason snaps. "I could already tell it was going to be impossible to keep him away entirely, and you can't blame me if he decided to ignore the part about danger-"

"He _what?"_ Batman slips into a bit of a growl there, but neither Jason nor Tim flinch - he's once again assured of his previous conviction about how easily the kid could stand up to the Bat. 

"Yeah, I kept spotting the kid at robberies and drug busts, and then I fucking found him _in a warehouse with Scarecrow._ That drug shipment that turned out to be fear toxin, remember?"

"Scarecrow captured a child and you didn't tell me?" Bruce demands, horrified. 

"He didn't _capture_ me," Tim pipes up, sounding offended. "I was doing _reconnaissance."_

"Tim-"

"He's telling the truth," Jason says glumly. "The kid was actually fucking investigating Scarecrow on his own. Doing a pretty fucking good job too. It's all terrifying in multiple ways."

Tim makes a face at him. 

"And it was even more blatantly obvious that keeping this kid away was going to impossible, so _then_ I tried to make him promise to stay away from Rogues. Until tonight, when the little fucker slipped up and admitted he'd been there when we fought Croc last week," Jason finishes, for now. Bruce will want a complete timeline and blow-by-blow later, even if its immediately followed by Jason being summarily kicked out of the Cave and the house. "And...that's when I decided it was time to tell you about him."

" 'It was time'," Batman repeats. "Robin, what were you _thinking?_ An untrained child-"

"An untrained child who _I_ noticed hanging around and _you didn't-"_ Jason snaps.

"So you should have told me!" Bruce's hands are balled into fists, which someone else might see as barely contained violence but Jason recognizes as him trying not to put his hand over his eyes in frustration. "That's what _my partner_ is supposed to do, see the things I don't-"

"Like the fact that it's blatantly obvious we have no hope of containing this crazy kid?"

"Hey," Tim says weakly. 

"What about his parents? They could-" How Batman managed to remain so naive about certain things remained beyond Jason.

"B, if the kid is out running around Gotham with that fucking camera at 1am, I don't think whatever kind of parents he's got would be much help!" he points out. 

"That just makes it even more important that you took responsibility for the situation-"

"I _did,_ what do you think I've been _telling you-"_

"-and told _me,_ an adult!" They're almost shouting now.

 _"It's not Jason's fault!"_ Tim bursts out, and Batman and Robin both instantly shut up and turn to ice. 

"What did you just say?" Batman says, very softly, like it's just become extremely difficult to keep using the voice he reserves for scared children and not the petrifying growl he uses on recalcitrant criminal witnesses. Which, considering the fact that apparently a ten-year-old has figured out Batman's identity somehow, actually shows admirable self-control. So does the fact that Jason is remaining still and not giving in to the instinct to hog-tie the kid and drag him back to the Cave for a proper interrogation - a _debriefing._ This is still Timmy, whom Jason has been rather desperately trying to keep safe for quite a while already, and hasn't he already more or less accepted that this kid is clearly destined to become one of them?

Tim's mouth opens and shuts a few times. "...It's not Robin's fault?" he tries.

"Nope," Jason says. "Try again."

He just cringes. "Okay, okay! We all know what I said. Do you really want me to repeat it again on a rooftop out in the open? Or how about _your_ name?" The bite is back in Tim's voice when he addresses Batman, for the first time since he showed up. 

Bruce finally gives in and reaches up to pinch his nose over the cowl. "Fine," he says. "I suppose then we might as well bring you back to the Cave for a _full explanation."_ And he does growl the last two words, but Tim still lights up like the Batsignal.

"Oh my god!" he squeals. "I'm gonna get to see the _Batcave?_ Ooh, ooh! Are we going there in the Batmobile? Can I ride shotgun?"

"No way," Jason cuts him off. "That's a Robin privilege, kiddo."

Timmy pouts. It is _not_ adorable. It is _not._ They still don't know how this kid found out their identities! If he's any kind of sleeper agent or spy he's one hell of a performer, because Jason is even more suspicious and wary than B and popular wisdom holds that there's no one more paranoid than the Bat. Well, Jason has never fit that well with what's popular.

And yet he's trusted Tim this whole time. 

But if that was a mistake, he has no doubt Bruce will kick him right back out on the street - it's obviously his fault somehow that the kid has figured out Batman's identity, he let something slip during the last few months, and if there's anything Bruce will finally find unforgivable, it's _that._

"Come on," Batman says. "The Batmobile is parked in the alley. We'll continue this discussion at home." Without another word he turns and grapples straight down off the roof. 

Jason takes the minute to jerk Tim around to face him. "You couldn't have mentioned you _know our secret identities?"_ he hisses. "You didn't think that was _relevant information?"_

He shrugs. "Not really. What would it have changed?"

"Well, I'd have told Batman a hell of a lot fucking sooner!"

"Exactly," Tim says simply. Oh, that _little shit-_

"Come on," Jason grumbles. He grabs the kid with one arm and tugs him into his side to grapple down from the roof. "We're going home now."

He wonders if Bruce also has a feeling that pretty soon they'll mean the kid's home, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next up: the batcave, identities, and everyone learning some important lessons about child abandonment


End file.
